Clear plastic wrap. Tupperware containers. Scotch tape. Swimsuits. Are all of these things plastic in different forms? What is the unifying chemical structure common to all these different things that makes them all plastic?
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Generally plastics consist of long chained molecules (called poymers). Think spaghetti. These chains can wriggle around at room temperature, which makes the material flexible or even rubbery. However some plastics dont wriggle at room temperature (e.g. perspex) so the material is hard. However if you heat them above the “glass transistion” temperature then chains can start wriggling and the material becomes soft or even flowable.
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